Trial continues for Signal Hill man accused of killing two friends

LONG BEACH >> A double murder trial opened Monday in Long Beach in the case of a Signal Hill man who is accused of killing two friends during robberies more than a decade apart.

Jeffrey Means, 49, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder for stabbing 67-year-old Long Beach resident Ronald Henry to death in December 2007 and fatally bludgeoning 48-year-old Hal Shaw of Whittier in June 1996.

After opening statements Monday morning at Long Beach Superior Courthouse, the day’s testimony and evidence focused on Henry’s killing.

Evidence and witnesses in Shaw’s slaying will be presented after Henry’s, prosecutor Julian Recana said.

Two of Means’ family members were in court Monday but declined to comment.

The two killings bear strikingly similar hallmarks, Recana said during his opening statement. Henry’s and Shaw’s residences showed no signs of forced entry and the residences were not “ransacked.”

Recana argued that Means robbed and killed both men for petty cash. Henry was known to carry around a “roll of cash” for his catering business in one of his front pants pockets. That cash was missing from a blood-soaked pair of Henry’s pants found near his body, Recana said. In addition, a jar of change was missing from his living room.

Means was later seen dumping change into a Coinstar machine, he said.

Matthew Charney, Means’ attorney, said the case was based largely on circumstantial evidence that would not prove the killings were planned.

“You will not hear evidence that the murders were premeditated,” Charney said. “These murders were brutal and irrational. They were done in a passion, in a rage.”

The first witness to testify was Garrett Henry, the victim’s son.

On Dec. 18, the day before the killing, Ronald Henry and Means worked catering an event at a senior citizens center.

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His father owned and operated a catering business called Henry’s Catering, and Means was one of the employees, Henry said.

Andrea Phillips, a close friend of Henry’s and one of Means’ childhood friends, testified she spent the night of Dec. 17 with Henry and Means, helping them prepare for the following day’s catering event.

That night, Henry got into an argument with Means for allegedly burning food and “drinking all his alcohol.”

But the event went smoothly, she said.

Phillips woke up around 6:30 a.m. Dec. 19 and saw Henry had left a phone message for her late the night before. She called back but there was no response.

He always picked up when she called, she thought.

Phillips said she tried calling Henry 15 or 20 more times to no avail and decided to check on him.

When she arrived at Henry’s apartment with her daughter, the two peered through an open door and noticed the living room was unusually messy.

“It just looked out of place,” Phillips said. “I called his name. There was no answer.”

Phillips drove to her mother’s house, dropped off her daughter and asked Jaunan Burdette, her brother and one of Means’ friends, to accompany her.

They arrived and Burdette found Henry lying in a dark, quiet bedroom. Phillips turned on the light and saw him lying in his bed in a pool of blood.

Crime scene photos displayed in court Monday showed Henry lying askew on his bed, his legs dangling off one edge. Pillows and blankets covered the upper half of his body.

Another photo showed his face and apparent stab wounds to his neck. Blood soaked every surface in sight.

Burdette testified Means had called him the night of Dec. 18 and the two drove to the Wal-Mart at 151 E. Fifth St. in Downtown Long Beach to shop for Christmas gifts.

Burdette said he noticed something odd: Means was driving a U-Haul van that Henry used to transport food to catering events.

“He was normally on a bike,” he said. “It was actually kind of funny.”

Means said he had to return the van to Henry, Burdette said. The two left and Means dropped Burdette off at his mother’s home around 10 p.m.

Video surveillance at the Wal-Mart shown in court on Monday places the two inside the store around 9:27 p.m.

“He seemed normal,” Burdette said.

“Did he express any anger toward (Henry)?” Charney asked.

“No.”

Means, who has been held in Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles since his arrest in January 2008, is facing his third strike in the two slayings. He also faces special circumstance allegations that the victims were killed during the commission of a robbery.

The nature of the killings make Means eligible for the death penalty if convicted on all counts.

Testimony and evidence on Henry’s killing will resume Tuesday.

Means had a long rap sheet and two strikes on his record and was on parole at the time of Henry’s death.

Means was convicted of giving false information to a peace officer in 2003, petty theft in 1998, false representation and having an open alcoholic beverage container in public in 1996, property theft in 1994 and driving with a suspended license in 1993.